Winiarski Pitches No. 4 Virginia to Series Clinch over Jackets, 9-1

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Cody Winiarski held the second-ranked Georgia Tech baseball team to just one run over 5.1 innings, and Phil Gosselin was 2-for-4 with three RBI to help No. 4 Virginia take the series with a 9-1 victory Sunday at Davenport Field.

Virginia improved to 27-7 overall and 10-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while the Jackets fell to 27-5 and 12-3 in the ACC. It was the first time this season Georgia Tech was on the losing end of a series.

“We didn’t do anything good today,” head coach Danny Hall said. “But give Virginia credit, they pitched real well and they made big plays. They won the series by playing better than we did for three games, and now we have to adjust and make improvements to get better for next week.”

Winiarski (4-0) picked up his fourth win of the season, and combined with the Virginia bullpen to hold the Jackets to just seven hits on the day. The Jackets stranded eight base runners against the Cavaliers, including five in scoring position.

Defensively the Jackets committed four errors on the day, and fell to 0-2 when committing at least three in a game.

Sophomore Jed Bradley recorded the loss, allowing six runs -four earned – in 5.2 innings. He struck out four.

“Jed [Bradley] got behind too much early in the game, and they were able to sit on a pitch to get their hits,” Hall added. “They had hits with two outs, and hits with runners in scoring position to keep their distance. We had some chances to get back in it and just couldn’t get the hit to tighten things up.”

Virginia jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning, behind hits from Jarrett Parker and Franco Valdes, and a sac fly to left by Phil Gosselin. Gosselin was 2-for-4 on the day, with three RBI to pace the Cavaliers.

A double to right field by Thomas Nichols gave Tech two runners in scoring position in the fifth with just one out. Winiarski would eliminate the threat, however as Jacob Esch fouled out to right field and freshman Brandon Thomas hit a high ball to left field to end the inning.

Dietrich gave the Jackets life with a solo home run to right field in the fifth that cut the lead to 3-1, but UVA would give itself cushion in the bottom half of the inning. The Cavaliers scored three runs on four hits and two costly Tech errors.

Bradley was pulled for senior Patrick Long after surrendering the first run of the inning on an RBI single to center by John Barr. After Gosselin singled home the second run, another scored on a fielding error by Plagman and Esch on the same play.

Tech had another chance to come back in the eighth. Jeff Rowland singled to center and Dietrich drew a walk to put two runners on with no outs, but Virginia right-hander Tyler Wilson struck out Tony Plagman, Cole Leonida and Matt Skole in respective order to strand both runners.

Virginia added three more runs on three hits in the bottom half of the frame, for a 9-1 cushion. Kevin Arico would go on to retire three of the four batters faced in the ninth to close the game.

The Jackets will play a midweek game against Georgia on Wednesday, April 14, in Athens, Ga. The game will be televised live on CSS, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.